The Four Seasons of Marcello

Il Pianto e il riso delle quattro stagioniRevelation of the Ambronay Festival and the Folle Journée, “L'Assemblée” is a young Baroque ensemble directed by harpsichordist Marie van Rhijn. It invites you to discover an allegorical oratorio as rare as it is captivating by Benedetto Marcello, composed in Venice in 1731 for the feast of the Assumption. In the shadow cast by Vivaldi's Four Seasons — contemporary, but here transfigured by the human voice — four solo singers and a chorus embody the cycle of time in turn, responding to each other with theatrical verve and jubilant virtuosity. Marcello's music, of sovereign beauty and for too long neglected, deploys a sonorous poetry of striking refinement. It is served by an orchestra with shimmering textures, where each color seems to breathe, vibrate and move with a deeply Venetian elegance.